Today's Paper
» NATIONAL
» ANDHRA PRADESH

HMDA plans to enhance its land bank

Experiencing hardships on financial front after real estate ran out of steam two years ago, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) is exploring all possibilities to shore up its finances.

Towards this end, the metropolitan body is looking at strengthening its land bank and has sought some land from the government. At a recent board meeting which was chaired by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, the HMDA officials made a request for 75 acres at Khanamet which is in the possession of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).

According to officials, the HMDA presently has a land bank of around 2,000 acres in and around the city. Quite a bit of its land has been entangled in different legal disputes which has been a hurdle in the urban authority's efforts to raise revenue by auctioning them.

“The location of some of our land is not really at places that could make prospective buyers evince interest,” says an official. The 75-acre site at Khanamet if transferred will add to the land available with the HMDA there and could be used for development, happens to be the contention.

The authority's fortunes in a way have come to be tied with real estate scenario and another official says, “If the real estate market picks up, then we will feel more comfortable”.

Meanwhile, the HMDA is looking forward to announce auction of ‘left over plots' that did not get buyers in earlier rounds of auction.